Now, I’m not one to ever endorse a product but I must say for anyone who is A) prone to dry skin and B) very lazy about putting on lotion to relieve this dry skin, there is a solution!  I will be the first to admit when I heard about this “miracle bar”- as I like to call it - because it resembles a bar of soap, I had my reservations. Let’s be real; how is it possible to not ever have to put a single drop of lotion on after showering and still have rich moist skin for the entire day.   Enter, Lush product: King of Skin.

The name really does say it all. It is the “king” of dry skin! Now, I was by no means the Christopher Columbus of finding this product. I have to give my friend Cheekiee credit for that find. Who knows your dry skin issues better than your best friend (maybe your husband, but let’s face it, he is no  use in that department).   

 How does this King of Skin exactly work you ask? Why let me tell you.   Physically it looks like a bar soap, but don’t you dare rub it on you in the shower and try to rinse it off!  All you do is, after your done showering and before you step out and grab a towel, wet the bar and rub it over you and then just dry yourself off as normal with your towel. Simple enough.  No need for a King of Skin for Dummies manual here.

I decided to use this bar for a good month before writing this entry just to make sure it could pass the “Payal test”. If any bar can moisturize my dry skin and those of you who know me, know exactly how dry my skin is, then this is it!  Jay is finally happy that he no longer has softer skin than his wife.  I won’t lie, it was pretty sad that he ha

Now here is the downside – pricewise, it can get a little expensive if you plan on using it on a daily basis because the bar does dwindle away pretty quick. Each bar cost about $14. Just think about how dry your skin is and how lazy you are. In my case, when a bottle of lotion is as foreign to me as Turkish bathhouse, I’ll pay the price.

Here is the link.

http://www.lushusa.com/King-of-Skin/02176,en_US,pd.html?start=2&q=king%20of%20skin

• Business Casual work outfit - Check
• ID badge clipped on my belt - Check
• Closed toe pumps with stockings on - Check
• Wool coat on and buttoned up - Check
• Scarf snuggly tied around my neck - Check 
• Seat warmers on full blast - Check 

Sounds like a “getting ready” routine for any typical winter workday right? Too bad it’s the 2nd day of Spring!! (the bold was absolutely necessary) That’s right my friends, it is the second day of spring and the low tomorrow is going to 36. I know back in December I was complaining about being able to wear flip flops to the mall and desperately looking for old man winter so I could get my Christmas on, but seriously now!

Payal is tired of being bundled up like like an Eskimo. Granted my summer attire doesn’t change too too much from my winter wardrobe. But, at least it can warm up enough to where I can trade out the wool coat for my North Face fleece! Jaykishan is going to die of a heatstroke, clearly not from the weather, but one more night of enduring my personal space heater blasting on hight at 85 degrees and he’s a goner!  

Texas doesn’t really have many seasons but the two weeks of what we like to call “spring” before the “let’s make cookies on our dashboards” weather sets in, is very important to us Texans! At this rate, we will be bipolaring(I do not believe that is a word, but I may have just created it) right into chocolate chip cookie dough. 

And that Mother Nature, is my open complaint to you.  Bring us some warm weather! 

March Madness was actually the theme of Pooja and Vinay’s wedding. Very fitting, in a good madness kind of way. Once we wrapped up our LA tour we headed to the wedding festivities. What followed was 3 days of pure madness (if doing the Harlem Garba is any indication for what the weekend was like) 

I won’t bore with details of the wedding but again, here are my bulleted highlights.

• Mexican food at the Mehndi night!! I know what you’re probably thinking - what’s the big deal - Indian people love Mexican food. But mind you, we were in California and this tasted like TEX MEX! Anyone from Texas can vouch there is nothing like TEX MEX in this world.  
• Pooja singing Lagna na geet at the Mehndi - that right there was a great hint at the good times that were going to be had over the next 3 days.
• Anyone who knows my “if your early your on time and if your on time your late and if your late don’t bother showing” philosophy can imagine how thrilled I was see that every event started and ended ON TIME!! LOVED IT! 
• Garba Garba Garba, Cali people can Garba! I like to think I”m somewhat fit and boy I had to catch my breath more than a few times! 
• Amazing Bhaarat! They came dancing and we equally kept up. But the best part of the Baraat was seeing Pooja watching from the 2nd floor balcony as Vinay came dancing through with his Baraat! I’m cheesy, it was a total Kodak moment! 
• HARLEM GARBA! - no details needed
• Absolutely amazing decor at the reception - loved the “lounge area” that was set up by the dance floor.
• Just dance! Everyone came with their dancing shoes on, including my dad who not only “Gangnam Styled” it but also decided to use his handkerchief to do the “helicopter”.
• After the party it’s the Aaafter Party! Jack in the Box to snack on, my dire attempt to talk after losing my voice, trying to determine what was behind the “wooden door”, watching my husband play trash pong, and much more! Good times! 

Less than two weeks in and we are deep into Payal’s world of March Madness! 

We started off the month with the epic wedding of the year in Los Angeles - Pooja and Vinay  and last week we went from a wedding to a baby shower - Welcome Baby Bhakta which resulted in a much needed Longhorn Reunion! 

Since there is some ground to cover here, I’ve decide to split this entry up into separate parts.

I wont waste time with fluff, so let’s get right into the details.We flew to LA a day early so we could get some sight seeing in before the wedding festivities. Below are my bulleted highlights. 

• Never rent a car from Advantage Rental again! - yes, it was the best deal, but was it worth the ride right into the ghetto minutes after getting off the plane and then waiting another hour while the junior high educated employees claimed to know how to do their job…NO. Jay’s 3 year old nephew could have rented us a car faster and more efficiently. 
• Santa Monica - just like the scenes from movies and tv shows, only wish we could have spent an evening at the pier. 
• Westwood, Hollywood and LA Live sum up as one great time! - LA Live reminds me of Dallas’ Victory Park but with life!  Very up and coming and a great after work place to meet and play. 
• I thought I was going to get lucky with Jay not being able to make me face any fears or what not on this very uneventful trip - WRONG- he convinced me to be interviewed on Hollywood Blvd by the ABC News crew on some current events going on…clearly it was a fiasco…I need to watch the news more. 

More to come in Part 2 (the epic wedding!)

It’s definitely been a while since I last visited SoCal(hope I got the wanna be cool spelling right). I may have been LA born but definitely not LA raised.  I do like to come back and visit what could have been my playground. 

Every trip to LA is usually for a family event, sometimes it really is true, you have to have family event to make certain trips. Lucky for me my travel loving husband made sure we got at least a day in for some sightseeing. 

The wedding festivities start on Friday, but we’ll spend tomorrow taking in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.  I’ll be honest, I’m super excited about going to Hollywood and seeing the walk of fame and driving through Rodeo Drive and taking in the sights of all my favorite designers window fronts. Please Note: I said window fronts, I did not say taking in actual  shopping sprees of these high end stores. Rest easy Jay. Your bank account is safe. 

I’m equally just as excited about Pooja’s wedding. There hasn’t been a family wedding thats’ brought us all together in quite some time so I’m really looking forwarding to seeing everyone. Living two time zones away, I also don’t get see everyone as much I’d like so it’ll be nice to catch up! 

On that note, time to board!